Should Committed Environmentalists Choose to Adopt a Vegan/Vegetarian D

Introduction The environmental impacts of a diet based in animal products is well documented and is the source of much debate. According to a controversial United Nations report entitled Livestock's Long Shadow (2006),â€Å"The livestock sector emerges as one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.† For those committed to reducing their environmental impacts, one solution would be to transfer to a vegetarian or even vegan diet. It is not necessarily ethical to prescribe one way of being for environmentalists all over the world, especially without thinking about differences in cultures. However, most committed environmentalists should adopt a vegetarian or vegan diet, with a few caveats. This is because (1) animal products are an inefficient source of protein in terms of environmental impact, (2) the greenhouse gas emissions from an animal product-based diet is significantly higher than a plant-ba sed diet and (3) animals are part of the environment and their treatment is as important as the treatment of the planet as a whole. Differing views Among Environmentalists Environmentalists take up many causes in their fight to protect nature. Their tactics can involve direct-action, petitions, media stunts and boycotts. Boycotting a company that is involved in unethical behaviour can be very effective and one of the simplest, most direct ways to exercise your consumer power, since most of the world's population is embedded in the capitalist economic system. Three areas that research has shown we contribute most of our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is through transportation, home energy and food, all areas in which committed environmentalists are ... ...rent dietary protein choices, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 78, p. 664s-668s. Stepaniak J, 2000, Being vegan: living with conscience, conviction, and compassion, Lowell House, Los Angeles. Tukker, A & Jansen, B 2006, ‘Environmental impacts of products – a detailed review of studies’, Journal of Industrial Ecology, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 159–182. Waller, D, 1997, ‘A vegetarian critique of deep and social ecology’, Ethics and the Environment, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 187-197. Weber, CL & Matthews, HS 2008, ‘Food-miles and the relative climate impacts of food choices in the United States', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 42, no. 10, pp. 3508-3513. Wells, T 2005, The world in your kitchen, New Internationalist Publications, Oxford. Yacoubou, J 2011, 'Ecocriticism as vegetarian activism', Vegetarian Journal, vol, 30, No. 2, pp. 12-14.